DESPITE rail passengers across the UK seeing disruption due to continuing industrial action, lines through Winchester seem to be unaffected.

On Wednesday, May 31, members of The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (Aslef) went on strike, with further industrial planned for later in the week. The industrial action is over long running disputes over pay, jobs and conditions.

Passengers at Winchester Station told the Chronicle that, despite the industrial action, they had not seen much disruption to their journeys. However, the stations café and shop were both closed to customers, with the on-platform shop remaining open.

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A sign outside Winchester Station reads: “While a normal service will operate on most of our networks, it is likely that there will be a reduced service on suburban routes, the West of England Line and in the Romsey area. There will be no service on the Island Line. Services may be subject to delays and cancellations.”

Hampshire Chronicle: Further Aslef strike action is scheduled for Saturday, June 3 while members of RMT will be striking on Friday, June 2. The Rail Delivery Group has estimated that around 40 per cent of trains are running on Aslef strike days, although there are wide, regional variations. Meanwhile, on the RMT strike day, around 50 per cent of services are estimated to run.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said no negotiations aimed at resolving the industrial action are taking place, while the Department for Transport has insisted it has “facilitated a fair and reasonable pay offer”.

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Mr Whelan said: “There are no negotiations since they came out with yet another deal that contained all our ‘red lines’. If you spend months in a room, tell people things aren’t acceptable to you, then they produce a deal that contains those things then they are setting the deal up to fail.

“That is a deliberate act on behalf of both the Government and the people that we’re dealing with.

“They do not apparently want a resolution.”